1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a specific deoxyribonucleic acid sequence and the method of its use to improve yields of protein from expression of a gene within a microorganism.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is unclear which properties of mRNA make possible an optimum binding of ribosome and thus a maximum production of protein within the cell. A recent theory stresses the importance of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence (ribosome binding site), which must be placed at the correct distance from the start codon, and the importance of secondary structures of the mRNA which inhibit the start of the translation. There are, however, numerous indications that additional sequence elements of the mRNA are necessary for an effective formation of the initiation complex and thus an optimum translation. However, these sequence elements have not yet been identified.
It is known that the atp operon of Escherichia coli comprises 8 genes which code for the 8 subunits (a, c, b, delta, alpha, gamma, beta and epsilon) of the ATP synthase (adenosin triphosphate synthase). The atp operon is transcribed into a single polycistronic mRNA on which the subunits are translated or synthesized in different molar amounts. The highest translation rate can be observed for the subunit c.